Garment storage bag



April 3, 1951 J. MEHL GARMENT STORAGE BAG Filed April 25, 1948 E; j 7INVENTOR. JONAH MEHL BY I jw 5 I HIS ATTORNY Patented Apr. 3, 1951GARMENT STORAGE BAG Jonah Mehl, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor toSydney-Thomas Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application April 23, 1948, Serial No. 22,821

1 Claim. 1

This invention concerns a garment storage bag in which garments may besealed for complete protection and which is reusable from time to time.

A major object of this invention is to provide a garment storage bag inwhich a garment on a hanger may be. inserted with the hanger extendingthrough an opening in the top of the bag and in which the hanger openingas well as the garment opening may be secured to protect the bag, withthe securing devices being openable permitting reuse of the bag fromtime to time.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide agarment storage bag of thin plastic film material which will contain oneor more garments with the hangers projecting through an opening in thetop of the bag and a drawstring for drawing the edges of the openingtightly about the garment hanger and further provided with a garmentopening at the bottom of the bag which may be sealed by the arrangementof a ductile metal strip in the bottom hem of the bag so the bag may berolled up from its bottom end to seal the opening and the lower portionsof the bag folded inwardly to bend the metal strip thereby securing thebottom of the bag to form a bag of any desired length.

In accomplishing these objects, a bag according to this inventionincludes front and back portions of a width and length exceeding thewidth and length of the garment to be stored; the front and backportions being of substantially identical shape and having their upperedges sealed. together except for a central opening which is surroundedby projections extending upwardly from the front and back portions, theprojections having 'hems for receiving a drawstring which may be pulledto tighten the opening about a hanger projecting through the top of thebag; a hem being formed in the'bottom of the bag for receiving a ductilemetal strip of a lengthcorresponding to the width of the bag so the bagmay be rolled or folded upon the strip as a core to any desired heightwhere, by folding the lower ends of the bag inwardly, the metal strip isbent upon itself to secure'the rolled bottom portion of the bag indesired position and seal the bottom of the bag to protect the garmenttherein.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following specification taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a garment bag embodying the inventionin its preferred form and showing the bag with a garment and hangerpositioned therein but before the bottom of the bag is closed;

Figure 2 is a similar view of Figure 1 but which shows the bottom of thebag rolled upon the metal strip as a core but prior to securing thebottom of the bag by folding the edges;

Figure 3 is similar to Figure 2 but showing the bottom edges of the bagfolded inwardly to bend the metal strip and secure the bottom of the bagin sealed position and also showing the top opening of the bag gatheredabout the .hanger projecting therethrough;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken 4--t of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure 3; and

Figure 7 is a partial top plan view of Figure 1 showing the hangeropening with the drawstring therein.

on the line In the preferred embodiment of the invention,

as shown in the drawings, the garment bag includes a front portion H anda back portion l2, both formed of flexible materials that can be sewn,glued or heat sealed, such as polyethylene plastic film, cellophane,paper, textiles, or like materials. One particularly advantageousarrangement of the front and back portions 1 i and [2 respectively, isobtained by utilizing a tube formed of a thin film of material. Byflattening the tube along two longitudinal and diametrically opposedlines, a container is formed having front and back portions H and [2formed integrally with one another along the longitudinal lines whichcorrespond to the sides of the container. This container or envelope isthus sealed along its sides but open at its two ends.

The top edges of the front and back portions II and i2 are joinedtogether from points 13 and I4, spaced from each other near the centerof the bag, outwardly in opposite directions to the edges of the bag, asindicated at it and it, to form seams ii and i8 extending from thespaced points l3 and Hi to the sides of the bag. Preferably, with theuse of polyethylene film ma; terial, these seams are formed by heatsealing the upper edges of the bag from the spaced points I3 and l4outwardly to the sides'o f the bag. This may be accomplished by applyingheat and pressure to the portions to be joined. By sealing the seams inthis way, a hanger opening It (Fig. 5) is formed, between the spacedpoints 13 and 14 near the center of the top of the bag, through which ahanger .such as that shown at 2| may protrude.

outwardly extending projections 22 and 23 are provided at the tops ofthe front and back portions II and 12, respectively, between the spacedpoints 13 and I4, near the center of the bag. These projections surroundthe neck opening it and also extend above the seams I1 and I8 which sealthe major portion of the original opening in the top of the bag. The topmarginal portions of the projections 22 and 23 are doubled back uponthemselves and sealed adjacent their edges to secure them to therespective projections on the front and back portions, thereby provideand the weight of the metal strip 32 ing hems 24 and 25 in theprojections surrounding the opening I9 with apertures 26, 26 in the endsof the hems at the spaced points I3 and I4. The hems 24 and 25accommodate a conventional drawstring 27 arranged in the usual mannerwith its ends extending through the apertures 26, 26.

With this arrangement at the top of the bag, it will be apparent thatthe major portion of the top is sealed by the seams I! and I8, and theopening I9 is adequate to permit hanger 2| to be inserted through theopening when a garment is placed in a bag. As the projections 22 and 23extend above the seams I7 and I8, sufficient material is present so partof the bag surrounding the opening may be gathered tightly about thehanger 2| by pulling the drawstring 2'! as shown most clearly in Fig. 3.

The bottom opening of the bag extends across the entire width of thefront and back portions II and I2, so a garment may be easily insertedthrough the bottom of the bag and pushed up into the bag until thehanger projects through the hanger opening I9. The bottom marginalborders of the front and back portions I I and I2 are doubled back andsecured, as indicated at 28 and 29, to the front and back portions IIand I2, respectively, to form a bottom hem 3| extending across theentire width of the bag. Contained within this hem 3I is a strip 32 ofductile metal, such as aluminum, which has a length corresponding to thewidth of the bag as it extends across the entire width of the bag. Thismetal strip 32 is arranged on edge within the seam as shown most clearlyin Figure 4, where it serves a two-fold purpose. As will subsequentlyappear, the strip is used to retain the bottom of the bag in its closedposition. Also, it serves as a light weight in the bottom of theextremely thin material to hold the bag in extended position whendesired.

To close the bag, the lower marginal borders of the front and backportions II and I2 are rolled upwardly on the metal strip 32 as a core.The number of folds, that is the number of times that the strip isturned, depends upon the final length of the bag which is desired. Bytightly rolling the front and back portions II and I2 on the metal strip32 one or two times, the lower marginal borders of the front and backportions I I and I2 are brought into intimate relationship therebyforming a seal for the entire bottom opening in the bag. When the bottomof the bag has been folded to its desired length, the lower ends of thesides of the bag may be folded inwardly, as shown in Figure 3, to bendthe metal strip 32 upon itself to retain the fold in the desiredposition so the bag is completely sealed to afford protection for thegarment.

In use, the bag may be held at its upper end, will straighten the bag toits full length holding the sides in laterally extended position so agarment may be readily inserted through the opening in the bottom of thebag, and moved into the bag until the hanger 2I protrudes through theopening I9 in the top of the bag. The drawstring 2! may then betightened to gather the marginal border of the projections 22 and 23around the hanger opening I9, so they will snugly fit and substantiallyclose the opening with the hanger protruding outwardly therefrom.

The bottom of the bag may then be folded upwardly on the metal strip 32as a core to any desired length. When folded to the desired length, thelower ends of the sides of the bag may be turned inwardly, as shown inFigure 3, thereby bending the metal strip upon itself to secure the bagin closed position. This folding of the bag forces the lower marginalborder of the front and back portions I I and I2 into intimaterelationship, as shown in Figure 5, so the bottom is completely sealedto protect the garment.

An important advantage of the present construction is that the entirebag may be opened, the garment removed and the bag reused. This is madepossible by providing not only a reusable opening for removing thegarment, but also through the arrangement of the drawstring in the topopening so the hanger may be removed without damaging the bag. When thedrawstring is tightly tied the projections 22 and 23 form an excellentseal around the hanger. The drawstring may then be untied to permitremoval of the hanger without damaging the bag.

A bag embodying the features of the present invention is particularlyeasy to use because the hanger opening may be readily sealed. The bag iseconomical to use because a garment may be inserted and removed from thebag repeatedly without damaging the bag itself.

I am aware that the structures herein described are susceptible ofconsiderable variation without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and, therefore, I claim my invention broadly as indicated bythe appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A garment storage bag comprising front and back portions of relativelythin material of substantial length, said portions being joined alongtheir opposite side edges and open throughout the width of their bottomends, the top edges of said front and back portions being closed in fromthe sides to spaced points near the center of said 7 top edges to form ahanger opening in the top central portion of the bag, an expansible neckportion formed by the upper margins of said front and back portionsbetween said spaced points and around the hanger opening, a hem portionformed on the bottom margin of one of the front and back portions, and aductile metal bar enclosed entirely within the hem portion and extendingacross the entire width of the bag to hold the bottom end of the bagextended widthwise and permitting said bottom end to be sealed byrolling it upon the bar and securing it in sealed rolled condition byhaving the opposite ends of the bar retroverted.

JONAH MEHL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 599,858 McCoy Mar. 1, 1898680,368 Shattuck Aug. 13, 1901 949,583 Leininger Feb. 15, 1910 969,468Goldberg Sept. 6, 1910 1,229,890 Conover June 12, 1917 1,900,814 HolleyMar. 7, 1933 2,018,228 Potdevin Oct. 22, 1935 2,071,745 HigginbottomFeb. 23, 1937 2,294,791 Mehl Sept. 1, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 328,918 Germany Nov. 9, 1920

